Spike: The Demon Hunter
by RmsThakoer
Summary: Spike dies and the Powers That Be are indecisive of where to send his soul. As a solution they send him back as a supernatural human to Season 1, in a timeline with no William The Bloody. His memories have been stripped and fake ones have been placed, making him a Demon Hunter, working with one Rupert Giles for the Watcher's Council. (Response to Esm3rald's Challenge.)
1. Prologue

_**Rated M for safety reasons**_

**Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. RMS here. This fanfiction is in response to a Challenge by Esm3rald. (Shanshued Spike back in the Past.) This is not my first fanfiction, it IS the first fanfiction i'm going to be posting here, so please, give as much feedback as possible, positive or negative, it's all welcome, and all part of the learning process. Preferably no flames, as they are in no way useful to anyone, author and reviewer included. I look forward to hearing from you, and without further ado, here is Chapter 1 of Spike: TDH. **

**Disclaimer. I do not own BTVS, nor do i own the idea for this fiction. I only own the words written and the story told.**

* * *

**Prologue**

"Go on, then." He said, demanding her to leave. Of course. Stubborn bint, she was, it was not that easy.

Buffy stood, staring in awe at Spike as the sunlight channeled through the amulet, closing the hellmouth slowly, but surely. "No. No, you've done enough. You could still-" She started, before he cut her off.

"No, you've beaten them back, it's for me to do the clean-up." He stated, as the walls started to crumble around them.

From the stairs leading to the exit, Faith called down to Buffy. "Buffy, come on!" Before she ran up the stairs, determined to make it out herself, hoping that her fellow Slayer would follow.

"Gotta move, lamb." Spike smirked, knowing it was his destiny to end this. "I think it's fair to say school's out for bloody summer."

Buffy called to him, worried about the imploding Hellmouth, and yet, not wanting to leave him behind. "Spike!"

"I mean it! I gotta do this!" He said sternly, as he held out a hand to her, to stop her from nearing him.

In that moment, she knew. He wasn't doing this to save the world. That was merely a side-effect of his actions. He was doing it to save her. His love for her was that great. And she couldn't let him do it. She was too selfish for that. As she realized what her feelings ment, and what they had ment for quite a while now, she took his hand, entwining their fingers as she looked him in the eyes, her own softening, showing both love and fear.

"I love you." She said softly, even as their hands burst into flame together.

He looked at her in awe, as she gave him the crumb he had always wanted from her, and threw a whole loaf of bread on top. He knew it wasn't real though. She was giving him a reason to make this worth it. And he couldn't be more grateful of her, for that. "No, you don't." He said smiling sadly, but gratefully. "But thanks for saying it."

The moment was ruined, however, as an earthquake called them back to reality and Buffy lost her grip on Spike's hand. He immediately demanded her to leave again. He could die happily, knowing she cared enough to make his final moments worthwhile. "Now go!"

She ran up the stairs, stealing one last glance at him before running off, to make his sacrifice worthwhile.

Spike grinned as he looked out over the vast expanse of the Hellmouth. "I wanna see how it ends." He started laughing as he felt himself burn. First his skin, then his muscles, and finally his bones. His last thoughts as he screamed and burned were _'Please, whichever deity out there has a heart, make her happy. Let her live.'_

The Hellmouth crumbled in around the remains of Spike as it continued its implosion, taking the rest of Sunnydale with it.

* * *

He slowly opened his eyes to a white expanse of nothingness. "This is new…" He said softly, to no one in particular. He was answered, however, by the bickering of 2 voices. He slowly sat up, his body feeling like it weighed a ton, as he looked at where a woman with light-blue skin and man with crimson skin were fighting over… something. And a third, green-skinned man stood aside, silent and observing.

"He is a vampire. A notorious one, at that. Second only to Angelus. He has killed thousands, if not millions. He is ment for Hell!" The red-skinned said sternly, scowling at the woman.

The woman only rose a single eyebrow as the corners of her mouth lowered in disdain. "He has gone through severe challenges to regain his soul for OUR Champion. He has done good. The only vampire in history to do good selflessly! He has saved billions in his last act in the Living Realm. I will not allow him to be sent to Hell after redeeming himself! He WILL be sent to Heaven."

Finally, the green-skinned man spoke up. "Perhaps you'd like to discuss this with the subject of interest." His statement was followed by silence, as he looked toward Spike, the red- and blue-skinned deities following his gaze.

Spike stood up, but remained where he was, not trusting himself enough to walk to where the strangely colored people were in his current weak state. "What's going on here?" He asked, noticing that his voice was quite hoarse. _'Probably because of all the yelling…'_ He thought ruefully, before his attention went to the three deities once more.

The green-skinned spoke up. "My apologies, Mr. Pratt. But it would seem that my brother and sister cannot decide where to place you. We are who you know as The Powers That Be, you see. And it is up to us to decide whether you've earned your place in Heaven, or if you should be sent to Hell for punishment. And for you, there is a lot of evidence pointing in different directions."

Spike looked on in confusion. He was at the same dilemma as the powers were, at the moment. He was a demon. He had no soul. He had always thought he'd go to hell eventually. But then… He had his soul now… And he had died saving the world. Was he still to be punished or had he redeemed himself? He was unsure.

The green-skinned spoke again, stopping his thoughts. "I do, however, have a proposal, if it would be satisfactory to the three of you." He then turned to his siblings, knowing Spike was listening. "I say we send him to another dimension. We give him what he's earned, the Shanshu, and send him to when our best Slayer to date first arrived on the Hellmouth. 1996.

Of course, we will have to reverse the age of his body so he can be around the same age as her, as well. But we will leave him with his senses, his power, his speed, his reflexes, etc. He will be Ms. Summers' partner in every sense of the word."

Spike looked on, intrigued by the proposal, and he had to admit, a new chance at life sounded nice.

The red-skinned and blue-skinned nodded in agreement, before the blue-skinned woman added on the proposal. "Very well. We will, however, be destroying his memories and wiping his slate clean. This life will be his last, and it will prove that he has earned his reservation in Heaven."

Just as that sentence was uttered, he felt himself losing consciousness as he saw all his memories one last time before they completely disappeared. Ending with a message from Joyce. A simple "I'll be waiting." Had proven her faith in him.

* * *

As he opened his eyes, he found himself in a bed in his personal bedroom in the Giles Mansion. He briefly thought about his newest mission. He and his latest trainer, Watcher Rupert Giles, were being sent to Sunnydale, California to go help the new Slayer. 'Oh joy' He thought grumpily, before turning over and going back to sleep.

* * *

**My apologies for very short chapter, i can garantuee that Chapter 2 will be longer, i just wanted to get through this prologue as fast as possible, so it lacks detail. Please note that this is only the set-up for what is to come. Next chapter will bring us to the fake memories implanted in Spike, his arrival in Sunnydale and meeting Buffy and the starting Scoobies.**

**Until then,  
****-RMS-**


	2. Spike meets Sunnydale High

**Wattup guys! I cannot believe this. I have 8 followers, 3 favorites and 3 reviews on this story already. In a category that's filled with SO many good stories. It's mindblowing. I thank you all for reading, thank you for reviewing, and thank you for the follows and favorites. Without further ado, here's chapter 2.**

****Small Edit: If you've already read this chapter, no need to read it again. I've merely switched up the accents. Thank you to spiked-love for pointing out i had them backwards, and if any of you see mistakes like that, please, feel free to point them out and i'll fix it at my earliest discretion.****

**Disclaimer: I do not own BTVS. I only use it for the entertainment of my readers.**

* * *

_It all started with a fire in London, England. The Slayer, at the time, had been attacking a vamp nest that had set up shop inside a house, owned by a now dead man. She had dusted every vampire hiding out in the boarded and sunlight-free house, by setting it on fire. She did not however, expect the fire to spread to the neighboring house. Running toward the front-side window, she jumped through and sighed in relief when she saw no signs of life inside the house._

_She was about to leave when she felt it. The tingling in the back of her neck, signifying the presence of a vampire. She followed it up to the attic, still untouched by the fire. When she arrived at the attic, she found the source to be a baby, one that couldn't have been older than a year, in a crib. She was about to gather the courage to kill the child vampire, before going to find the sicko that would turn a baby, when she noticed that the baby was being bathed in sunlight that shone through the broken roof. _

_She knew that her vampire sense was never wrong, it was the one thing that kept Slayers alive, so she also knew she had to take this child to her Watcher, and have him examined by the Watcher's Council._

* * *

_A week later, the Council had done all the tests they could think of, and the boy seemed, for all intents and purposes, a normal human. They forged him a birth certificate naming him William Giles and gave him to Rupert Giles, as a foster child. Having found no family of the boy, the child would be raised a Watcher._

_This proved to be a bad decision in the middle of his Watcher-training, when the boy was 7. Rupert was never a father to him, more like a mentor, and thus, William had no one to play with. He simply had too much energy to complete the silent and spiritual Watcher's training. That was when Quentin Travers decided that they would use the boy's energy to their advantage. The Watcher's Council would hire masters of all the arts; Kung Fu, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Muay-Thai, etc. etc. And they would train the boy to be the Council's first official Demon Hunter, while continuing his Watcher's training. He would be the perfect blend of the Watcher's Council's spiritual and the Rogue Hunter's physical aspects._

_At least, that was the plan. Until, in 1990, at the age of ten, young William had defeated every hired master in their chosen art. He had become more skilled, more powerful, faster and had developed better reflexes, than any human in the history of the Watcher's Council. He was nearing the power and skill of a fully-trained Slayer, and he had only taken three years to do it. He had at least ten more years of growth to go. His Watcher's training had also been finished, and he could defeat even the most seasoned of Watchers in a quiz about demon lore. He was, simply put, superhuman._

_This caused worry for the Watcher's Council. Quentin and Rupert decided to double check the results of ten years ago and tested William again. That's when they found out something strange. He WAS, for all intents and purposes, human. But his power, his speed, his reflexes, his senses. They were all EXTREMELY similar to what they had recorded on the most powerful of Master Vampires. _

_Not knowing what this meant, they decided to keep it to themselves and told William and the rest of the Watcher's Council that the adopted Giles was human. An amazing human, but human nonetheless._

* * *

_For three years, William was the perfect Watcher. He kept to himself. He read all the demon lore he could find. He was the perfect Watcher. But all good things must come to an end._

_Much to the displeasure of many watchers, including Head Watcher Quentin Travers, William went through puberty, and like every teen, he felt the need to rebel. Gone were the tweed suit, the long, shaggy brown hair, the northern london accent and the polite way of speech. Gone was William Giles._

_In his place, was resident bad-ass Spike. Shaggy, brown hair was replaced by bleach-blonde, slicked-back hair. The tweed suits were replaced by black jeans, punk band t-shirts and leather jackets. Three earrings adorned his left ear, and a black, fingerless leather glove adorned his right hand. The cockney accent was replaced with a rough, cockney accent he had taken up to make him seem more menacing. And finally, the polite way of speech was replaced by lots of cursing and disrespect to everyone, especially authority figures._

_And so, Spike was a menace to the Watcher's Council for three years. Killing demons and studying them as he went, but going against everything the Watcher's Council asked of him._

_Until now._

_Rupert Giles had been tasked with the new Slayer. A 'Buffy Summers'. And using the opportunity presented to him, Quentin sent Spike with him._

* * *

He heard a knock on his door, followed by a shout of "William! Get up, we have a plane to catch!"

The blonde-haired 16-year-old sat up grumpily, before shouting back. "It's Spike, ya old sod!" He heard the old man mumbling to himself, as he started to get up. As his body ran on auto-pilot, doing his daily morning routine, he starting thinking about this latest mission of his. No big-shot demon to kill, no vampire trying to destroy the world. He had to babysit a soddin' Slayer.

'_What kind of a name is Buffy, anyway? Whoever thought of that name was completely off their rocker.' _Thought an irritated Spike. As he heard Giles shouting from the landing of the stairs he looked down to notice himself clothed and ready. Muscle memory, how handy. He walked down and looked at the man with a deadpan expression. "Rupert, why in the bloody hell are we leaving this early? The plane doesn't leave for another 3 hours."

"Because we still need to check in, nitwit. Now get moving. In the car, you go."

* * *

After having waited for hours, followed by sitting in the plane for hours, Spike and Giles arrived at the LA airport. "William, our rental is this way." Giles said confused, as he saw Spike walk in another direction on the parking lot.

"Your car may be, my bike is not." Spike snarled. No way was he gonna drive in whatever sort of idiot car the old man chose. He walked toward the end of the lot, where a chopper-styled motorcycle awaited him. He got on and drove where he saw Rupert disappear. When he found him, he was very glad he had the foresight to buy the bike and have it delivered to the airport. Rupert was driving in what seemed to be a lunchbox. A Mini, he guessed. He decided to let Rupert to his little car, and enjoy the road, and so he drove off toward Sunnydale. Home of the Hellmouth. As the wind swept past him, making his open leather jacket flap in the wind, he heard an engine coming up behind him. Though it sounded more like a bee compared to his Harley. He looked in his rear-view mirrors, to find Rupert on his tail. He grinned slightly, and took the bike to its full power, leaving Rupert and the Mini, in his dust.

* * *

Arriving in Sunnydale, Spike looked around, as he cruised through the small town. He knew that Rupert wouldn't be arriving for at least half an hour. That little car had nowhere near the power of the Harley Davidson, Spike rode.

As he cruised, he saw a high school, Sunnydale High, where he was to be a transfer student, and Rupert the new librarian. He rode to the parking lot of the high school, where he shut off the engine and got off the bike. Immediately his eyes zoned in on a blonde-haired girl, as he sniffed slightly. _'That's the Slayer, then? Doesn't look like much. Bit carefree that one. Not constantly on the watch, like a trained Slayer. Good thing I'm here, Rupert wouldn't know a bloody thing to do with an untrained Slayer.' _He thought, as he walked forward. Almost bumping into a boy on a skateboard.

"'Scuse me, comin' through, pardon me, 'scuse, whoa! 'scuse me, not sure how to stop! Please move, whoa, 'scuse me…" That's when the boy, noticed the Slayer. And it seemed his hormones started kicking in, because he wasn't paying attention to anything else anymore. "Whoa…" He drawled out, before crashing into a stair railing and falling under it.

"God…" He grunted in pain, before a redhead made her way toward him, stepping over his legs as she did. "I'm okay. I feel good." He stated to no one in particular, before noticing the redhead smiling shyly at him, pulling her hair behind her ear. "Willow! You're so very much the person I wanted to see!" He practically yelled into her face, as he got up.

This is where Spike stopped paying attention and lit a smoke, looking around the rest of the school. Those were the only interesting ones, really. All the other kids here were generic. Cheerleaders, Jocks, Geeks, the like. He stomped his cigarette out, and went inside the school, looking for wherever the Principal's Office was, knowing Rupert would show up shortly. As he found it, and stood against the wall next to the door, waiting for Rupert, he overheard the voices inside. Taking a sniff, he knew one of them was the Slayer, and the other could be no one other than the principal himself.

"Wasn't THAT bad…" He heard the Slayer say, as he started listening in better. "You burned down the gym."

Well that was interesting wasn't it? A Slayer, kicked out of school, because she burned down a gym. Filled with vampires, no doubt. And sure enough; "I did, I really did, but… You're not seeing the big picture here. I mean, that gym was filled with vampi- asbestos."

Having heard enough, he stopped listening in and just stared out at the masses. Until the Slayer walked out, of course. When she did, some girl ran into her and she dropped her bag, spilling its contents. Content on watching this play out, Spike saw the boy from earlier help her out. The Slayer introduced herself as Buffy. _'Buffy Summers. Yeah, she's the Slayer alright. Nose never fails.' _Followed by the boy introducing himself as Xander. _'Hm. Whelp'd have a better chance if he didn't make such a big fool out of himself. Maybe I should help him out… Nah.'_

As Buffy left, though, he walked toward Xander, who had a stake in hand, and took it from him. "What's this, then? You gonna stab someone with this bloody thing?" He said, carelessly, studying the quality of the stake. This Slayer had finesse, training her wasn't going to be hard. Xander looked at him, and snatched the stake back. "It's a girl's. I don't know what it's for." He said, carefully. Before noticing that he hadn't seen this guy anywhere before. "You're new here, aren't you?"

Spike decided to cut to the chase, instead of idle chit-chat, as he had already seen Rupert go in and out of the principal's office. "Spike's the name. And you're Xander. I overheard you, with the girl. Nice to have met you, mate. But i think we both need to get going. Don't wanna be late." He said half-heartedly, not caring in the least if he was late or not.

* * *

It was a while later when he saw Buffy with some cheerleader-type walking. Deciding to follow, he blended in the crowd and followed them to the library. Shortly after the cheerleader left and Buffy had entered, she came running out and slowed her pace only when she reached the corner of the hallway. Spike, always the curious one, entered the library himself and immediately went to Rupert, who had his back turned to him. "Out with it. What'd you do?"

"Cor blimey!" came out of the man, before he turned around and glared at Spike. "Don't do that." He hissed before he frowned in confusion. "Wait. What do you mean, what did I do?"

"I'm talking about little miss Slayer that just ran out of here, as fast as she could. Which, I have to say, pretty bloody fast." The elder Giles' face lit up in understanding before frowning in confusion once more. "I don't know. When she came here, looking for a book, I laid down the Slayer Handbook. After that, she ran off."

Spike frowned as well. What was up with that? He turned toward the double doors of the library, walking out, as he called over his shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll figure this Slayer out."

* * *

As he sniffed her out, he couldn't believe his luck when the whelp from earlier was there with her.

He saw the boy hand her the stake she'd dropped earlier, and how she tried to talk her way out of it. Deciding to save her the trouble he walked over and called out to the one of them he knew officially. "Xander! 'Lo, mate. Didn't expect to see you again so soon." Xander looked over, immediately recognizing Spike. "Oh, hey Spike. Long time huh?" He said, laughing at his own joke, no one joining in. Spike, deciding to give the kid a break, looked at Buffy, Willow and Jesse, in turn noticing how they were looking at him. Jesse with a strange kind of twinkle in his eyes, like he'd just seen a comic book hero in the real world, Willow looked shyly from beneath her eyelashes, and Buffy… _'Well, this is interesting.' _Buffy was looking at him like a bitch in heat, having found the perfect Alpha male. _'Slayer likes me, does she?'_

He switched over to his original northern london accent, as he decided to use this to his advantage. "William Giles is the name. Enchanted." He said, taking the hands of both Buffy and Willow, to seem inconspicuous, and kissing the back of them before letting go. Xander decided to cut in here and introduce his friends. "This is Willow Rosenberg, my best female friend. That's Jesse McNally, my best male friend. And this is Buffy. She's new here, like you." Buffy glared at Xander shortly, before blushing as Spike sat down next to her.

"Buffy… You wouldn't happen to be Buffy Summers, would you?" He said, innocently. Buffy simply nodded, not knowing where he was taking this. Immediately Spike jumped up, and kneeled in front of Buffy, his hands strategically placed on her thighs to keep her from escaping. "My apologies, Miss Summers. Recently you've met my father, and I have reason to believe he has scared you. His name is Rupert Giles, he's the new librarian here. So on behalf of him, and the entire Giles family, I'm sorry."

This is when Buffy found that something was wrong. Spike had a twinkle in his eye that said he knew what he spoke of. He had a subtle strength in him that went along with the dark look he wore so well. Every time she tried to rise, she couldn't even move her legs. The boy was human, she had superpowers, how was he holding her down?

Spike, noticing that she finally picked up on his behavior, let a small grin through, before getting up and standing in front of her, addressing all four of them, even though Jesse, Willow and Xander were now only gaping at the two of them. "You can call me Spike, by the way." He said, reverting back to his rougher, cockney accent.

As Buffy rose to make an excuse and flee, he subtly kicked her foot out from under her, causing her to fall toward him. He quickly snatched her out of the air, and held her close to him, giving the illusion that he was waiting for her to steady herself. Instead, he whispered into her ear. "I'm a Demon Hunter, Miss Summers. You are the Slayer, Rupert is your Watcher and I am your partner." When he finished, he let her go, putting on a guise of innocent concern. "Are you alright, Buffy?"

Shakily, Buffy nodded. "Yeah… Yeah, I'm-" She was cut off, however, by the arrival of Cordelia Chase.

"Are these guys bothering you?" She said, an appreciative eye glancing over Spike, before she watched the other three in disdain. Buffy shouted a denial, Willow started a cover story, and Jesse, idiot that he is, didn't catch the tension around and perkily addressed Cordelia. "Hey! Cordelia!"

"Oh please." She responded haughtily, before turning back to Buffy. "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym was canceled due to the EXTREME dead guy in the locker."

Spike immediately narrowed his eyes in suspicion, followed by Buffy's exclamation of "What?"

"What are you talking about?" Willlow asked nervously. "Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker!" Cordelia responded, getting visible goosebumps.

"Dead." Buffy half-stated, half-asked, as if to confirm it. "Totally dead. Way dead." Was Cordelia's answer. Spike decided that he had heard enough and wasn't going to get anything else out of the cheerleader, and went to investigate.

Meanwhile, Xander decided some comedic relief was in order. "It's not just a little dead, then?" He quipped, to which Cordelia immediately snapped. "Don't you have an elsewhere to be?"

Jesse, ever the lovesick puppy, looked at Cordelia. "You know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on…" He left the sentence open to interpretation. He was ignored, however, by everyone else.

Buffy decided that she needed to know more. She didn't know why, she just did. "How did he die?"

Cordelia answered with a scrunched up face. "I don't know." Buffy, however, was not satisfied. "Well, were there any marks?" This caused Cordelia to look at the Slayer, horrified. "Morbid much?! I didn't ask!"

Buffy made up an excuse to go, and immediately went off to the gym. When she arrived there, she noticed that the lock had been picked and the door was slightly open. Afraid of what to find inside, she cautiously entered. Having searched the place for enemies, she finally turned to the white sheet covering a body, and freed the head underneath, to find two puncture marks in the neck of the boy. "Oh, great…" She muttered to herself.

* * *

Bursting into the library, Buffy immediately looked for the Watcher and asked. "Okay, what's the sitch?"

Giles looked at the girl from the stacks he was working on. "Sorry?"

"You heard about the dead guy, right? The dead guy in the locker?" Buffy asked, getting annoyed.

Giles stepped into the light and took off his glasses, polishing them on the bottom of his vest. "Ah yes. The vampire victim. William has informed me yes. I had been afraid of this."

Buffy immediately snarled at the man, still denying her calling. "Well, I wasn't! It's my first day! I was afraid that I was gonna be behind in all my classes, that I wouldn't make any friends, that I would have last month's hair. I didn't think there'd be vampires on campus. And I don't care."

Spike then stepped out of the shadows, a cigarette in his mouth as he took a drag and went to sit down on top of the librarian's desk. "Then why are you bloody here, pet?"

Buffy immediately rounded on him, fighting down the blush that was creeping up on her face at the sight of him. However, she couldn't really think of a reason she was here. Finally she decided to just let her mouth run, which got her "To tell you that... I don't care, which... I don't, and... have now told you, so... bye." She turned to leave, internally berating herself for that brainfart.

Then, as if from nowhere, a call of "Spike!" was heard. Spike slid off of the desk and landed nimbly on his feet, before he glared at the Watcher. "Rupert! Tell me you didn't do it! Tell me you didn't bloody do it!" He snarled, to which the elder Giles only responded by backing away nervously.

* * *

Then, a brown-haired missile burst through the library doors and jumped onto Spike, hugging him for all she was worth. This was little Watcher-in-Training, Dawn Michaels. Protégé of William and Rupert Giles. She was the same age as Spike, but her training started a lot later and she didn't have any of the natural talents that Spike had.

Spike held onto the girl, before grabbing her shoulders and shoving her at arm's length so he could glare at her. "Bloody hell, Nibblet! Didn't I tell you that this mission was too dangerous for you?! Who in the bloody hell gave you permission to come here? I told Travers not to allow it!"

Dawn pouted at Spike before glancing up at Rupert, and back. "Aw, Spike. Who knows how long you'll be here. I couldn't stay that long without you, you know that. So I got Giles and Mister Travers to give me permission."

Buffy was watching this in morbid fascination, a rare feeling building in her chest. _'No way. I'm not jealous. Totally not jealous of the little skank ho. Okay, maybe a little jealous, but ONLY a little.' _

Spike looked at Buffy in curiosity, before deciding that with a Slayer, him, and Rupert, Dawn would be at least somewhat safe. "Buffy, this is Dawn Michaels. Watcher-in-Training and my protégé. Dawn, this is Buffy Summers. The Slayer."

Immediately, Buffy came back to the present. She didn't want to be here, didn't want anything to do with vampires and demons. "Nope! I'm not the Slayer, you can find someone else for the job!" She yelled.

Giles chose this moment to speak up again. "You really have no idea what's going on, do you? You think it's coincidence, your being here? That boy was just the beginning."

Buffy stomped her foot in anger and glared at Giles with a huff. "Why won't you people just leave me alone?!"

Giles had the textbook answer ready on his tongue, when Spike responded instead. He could already see that this girl was unlike any other Slayer, just like he wasn't like any other Watcher. "Fine, pet. You wanna be left alone? Go. Walk out of that door and turn your back on your calling and all the innocent lives you could save. I'll bloody do it for you, instead." Spike's face was carefully neutral, lest he show his amusement and ruin the hard edge to his tone.

Buffy didn't know what to say. She was prepared for Giles' questions and responses. He was almost exactly like Merrick. But this 'Spike' character, he wasn't anything like either of the two. That's when she thought back to the words he had whispered in her ear. _'A demon hunter… Fine, let him deal with it.'_ But she couldn't get her feet to move toward the door. She was rooted to the ground, her body fighting her mind to do the right thing.

* * *

Spike took another drag from his cigarette before stomping it out. That's when he realized something was wrong. He could hear five heartbeats. There were only four of them. He sniffed the air, and immediately recognized the scent. "Hmm… It would seem we have a little eavesdropper, don't we, Whelp?" He looked up at the stacks on the opposite side of Giles, his enhanced eyesight immediately spotting the young boy. Dawn, Giles and Buffy all looked shocked in the direction Spike was looking. Xander stepped out into the light, and Giles immediately over every memory spell he knew, to decide what to do. It was Spike, however, that spoke first. "Well, whelp. What do you think of all of this?"

Xander looked at the four of them incredulously. "Vampires? Really? Vampires don't exist, man. You guys are all crazy!" He was about to leave, when Spike spoke up again.

"Really? And how about all those unexplainable disappearances in Sunnydale, then? All those that died by lack of blood, with only two small holes in their necks. Hell, let's take it a step further. How about the kid that was found in the locker, no blood in his body, two holes in the neck, but the rest of the body still intact. Sounds an awful lot like vampires to me, mate."

Buffy looked at Spike in awe. She had always been told to keep her calling a secret, and even if she didn't, who'd believe her? And here was this blonde-haired, punk-rock, Billy Idol look-a-like, that broke the rules of his own people, and actually rationalized the existence of vampires. Who was this guy?

Xander looked at Spike, a calculating gaze going over him, trying to see if that VERY logical explanation was the lucky pass of a crazy guy, or if vampires really did exist. Deciding to do the best he could, he decided to ask one thing that would prove that either these people were crazy, or they were all in constant danger. He was calling in the smartest person he knew. "Say I do believe you. I still want to confirm this. I wanna call in Willow." Spike simply shrugged. He took a cellphone out of his pocket and threw it up at the boy. "Go ahead, call her, get her here. Let's see what she thinks too."

Meanwhile, Giles was looking at Spike, anger blazing like a fire in his eyes. He was going against so many rules of the Council, if they ever got word of this, he, Spike AND Dawn would all be terminated.

After having made the call, Xander walked down the stairs and handed Spike his cellphone back, after which Willow immediately entered the library.

* * *

**Thank you for reading, and please don't forget to review, it inspires me to write more. If you have any ideas, please, send them, i'm always open, and if not in this story, i promise you, that it will be in a future story.  
**

**You will notice that i've taken the liberty to alter the universe a bit, and i will be doing it again. This is for two reasons.**

**1\. Some of the things that happened in canon, wouldn't have with a vampire's senses in play. Like no one noticing Xander overhearing Buffy and Giles.**

**2\. It is said that every small change in the past, brings bigger and bigger change, the more you go into the future. Our small change would be William Pratt never having been turned by Drusilla. This would've for example, altered the stint with The Immortal, the mission in the submarine. And all those things have consequences too.**

**Hope you understand and thanks, once again, for taking the time to read.**

**-RMS-**

**PS: Almost forgot! 3 times as big as Chapter 1. I'll try to keep the size of the chapters going up. No garantuees though.**


	3. Meet Angelus

**It's been so long, and i can only blame my own incompetence. Here it finally is, Chapter 3, and i'm not satisfied with it, at all. Any feedback, including flaming, is completely welcome for this chapter. I have not done your support justice. That having been said, i'd like to give a shoutout to mom8828, who's comment decided to just get on with it, and see where it'll land me, which gives you all Chapter 3 today.**

**Now that that's over with, without further ado, here it is.**

* * *

Buffy was in her room, preparing for a night out at the Bronze, as she sulked about what had happened that afternoon. After Willow came in, Spike had convinced her with a total of two sentences. The first was _"Do YOU have any explanations for the strange occurrences in this town?"_ The second? _"I'd think a smart girl like you would know to be cautious about them, at least, until you've proven that they don't exist."_

Buffy, in her silent rage, did not notice her mother come in and observe her throwing around dresses like a child in a temper tantrum. "What brought this about?" Joyce asked, concerned.

Buffy turned around, startled, before she sighed in relief as she saw her mother leaning against the door. "Nothing, mom." She replied, hoping that her mother would just let it go. Fortunately for her, Joyce picked up on this and decided on letting it go, for now. "Are you, uh, going out tonight?" Joyce asked, genuinely curious, but also consciously changing the subject.

Buffy returned to picking out a dress, putting back the rejected ones, calmly this time, as she answered. "Yeah. I'm going to a club." She answered absently.

"Will there be boys there?" Joyce asked, seemingly innocently.

Buffy turned around incredulously, staring at her mother for a moment, before answering sarcastically. "No, mom. It's a nun club." She rolled her eyes, as she decided on a dress and laid it out on her bed. She had almost completely forgotten about Spike. She had no idea how long a night she had ahead of her.

* * *

Buffy was making her way to the Bronze, after a tiring few minutes with her mother. At some point, she could feel someone watching her, and following her. She carefully made her way into an alley, where she spotted a bar between the two walls above her head. She jumped and did a handstand on top of it, as she awaited whoever was following her. _'Heh. Apparently cheerleading IS good for something.' _She thought smugly.

A big, dark figure made its way past her, as she flipped down and kicked the figure in the back. The figure, apparently a stereotypical tall, dark and handsome male, turned around, before being held down with Buffy's foot on his chest. "Ah, heh. Is there a problem, ma'am?" He asked, innocently.

Buffy wasn't falling for it, though. "Yeah, there's a problem." She answered with a frown on her face and an irritated tone. "Why are you following me?"

"I know what you're thinking." The man said, holding his hands up in a motion to show being unarmed. "Don't worry, I don't bite."

'_That wasn't what I was thinking at all.' _She thought, slightly smug, as she let him up, keeping her guard up just to be safe. _'I was thinking that you were kinda handsome. Not Spike-handsome but… So not going there. Brain, stop it. Now!'_

"Doesn't bite, he says." Came a heavily accented voice from above. A voice Buffy recognized only too well. _'Speak of the devil…' _She thought, irritably.

Both of them looked up, to find Spike squatting down on the edge of a rooftop. Buffy's voice came very close to a growl as she yelled up at the bleach-blonde Demon Hunter. "YOU're following me now too?!"

Spike scoffed, lighting a cigarette as he glared at Buffy momentarily. "I'm not following You. I'm following Him. He just happened to be stalking you." Spike jumped down, flicking his cigarette away mid-fall, before gracefully landing on his feet, between the two. "If you'll recall, I'm doing your job. And Him? He's one of my targets." Spike then snarled at the taller man, eyes glowing golden momentarily. "Isn't that right, Master Vampire Angelus?"

The now identified Angelus, took a step back, intimidated by the menacing look that was being aimed his way. He quickly tried to correct the situation he found himself in. "I'm not Angelus. At least, not anymore. I go by Angel now. I have a soul."

Buffy was still processing the fact that she had not recognized the threat for what he was, and a few thoughts along the lines of _'Why won't they just leave me alone?'_

Spike scoffed, taking a threatening step forward, forcing 'Angel' to take another step back. "I know all about your petty soul, Liam." Spike growled, surprising Angel and forcing Buffy out of her stupor. She immediately paid attention to the conversation, not passing up the chance to get to know more about Spike. "You were as tainted a human, as you are a vampire. A soul means nothing for someone like you." He took out a stake, carved with runes, from the inside pocket of his leather jacket, taking on a loose fighting stance.

Angel tried to extend his lifespan, or… unlifespan… Whatever. He tried to extend the span of his undeadness, by bluffing his way through the encounter. "Isn't it up to the Slayer to decide if I am to be killed?" Angel asked, a little smugly for his comeback. It was short-lived though.

Buffy was about to shout a refusal of the Slayer title, when Spike beat her to it. "She's no longer a Slayer, mate. I'm your judge, jury and executioner tonight." She stared at his back, appreciation shining in her eyes. Spike, however, didn't notice this, and continued on. "So I'll give you a single chance to take your soul and get the bloody hell out of my town, before you become dust, travelling the winds."

Buffy idly thought _'That was oddly poetic'_ Putting it away as a piece of the puzzle that was Spike, she decided to place it later, turning her attention back to what was happening in the present.

Angel, however, had stopped listening after 'She's no longer a Slayer' and had gone silent momentarily, trying to process it. Finally regaining his voice, he shouted at Spike "What do you mean 'No longer a Slayer'?" He turned to Buffy, lowering his voice to a gentle tone. "That's not an option. You're standing at the Mouth of Hell, and it's about to open." He stated, cryptically.

Buffy's eyes widened in fear. That didn't sound good. Not at all. Miraculously enough, or not, depending how you look at it, it was Spike that gave her back her fire. "The Hellmouth is about to open, some bad guy is trying to destroy the world as we know it, I use cliché lines and way too much hairgel." He mocked, raising an eyebrow at the vampire. "Sound about right?" Buffy's fear faded with every word he said, until it was no more.

Angel, however, took offense, and decided to ignore the boy, in favor of at least giving the Slayer his gift. As he was about to take it out of his inner pocket, Spike pulled out a crossbow from his back, which had been hidden under his jacket. He aimed at Angel, with one hand, the front end resting on the forearm of the hand still holding the stake.

He'd done this motion with so much speed, both Buffy and Angel hadn't even seen it. "Hands where I can see them, Angelus!" He growled at the vampire, as if this was a normal cop-robber scenario. If Spike didn't have every reason to be wary of the vampire, Buffy would've laughed.

Angel slowly pulled his hand from his jacket, a small box in it, as he held his hands up in surrender. Spike motioned down with the crossbow, figuring that it was some sort of gift for Buffy. "Put it down." After Angel did so, Spike slowly walked forward to a paralyzed Angel, who was at a range of shot that was impossible to miss against an opponent that had proven to have superior speed.

Arriving right in front of Angel, Spike dropped the crossbow and pushed the stake against his chest. Glaring and growling up at the hulking mass of vampire, he pushed the stake slightly in, break the skin beneath his shirt. "Now, I want you to get the hell out of my town. And don't let me see you again, or you'll get to introduce yourself as Mister Big-Pile-of-Dust, we clear?"

Angel moved backwards, before disappearing into the shadows, leaving behind a mere whisper. "Crystal."

* * *

**Short chapter this time, because my brain refused to write any further than this. I've tried forcing it, and the story just stops making sense, so i'm posting this and hoping i get to write chapter 4 now, as in, the rest of chapter 3.**

**As always, any review, follow and favorite is appreciated, but i don't blame you if you don't think this chapter warrants one. (Read opening note) Please look forward to chapter 4, which should be coming a LOT quicker than chapter 3 did.**

**All the best,**

**-RMS-**


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